Prince To Release Three Independent Albums

OK, I’m not really a Prince fan. But who I am to deny his talent, or his do whatever the fuck he wants to mentality?

What’s always impressed me about Prince is that he plays by his own rules, and it’s worked out pretty good for him. So, I wasn’t really that surprised when I read earlier this morning that the Purple One would be releasing some material without a label this year. However, what really threw me off was the fact that he’s going to release three albums in 2009!

According to the LA Times, where on of their bloggers got to hang out with Prince and listen to of the new tunes, the titles of the albums will be MPLSOUND, Lotus Flower and Elixir.

MPLSOUND will reportedly be a more “electro flavored” album, which also features an appearance by Q Tip. Lotus Flower, however. will be more guitar driven, and if you’ve actually seen Prince perform live you know that the dude can play. Finally, Elixir will be a collaboration with his protege Bria Valente. This album is supposed to be chill and Prince says that the “music is nasty, but it’s not dirty”.

OK, so here’s how Prince plans to release these albums.

First off, he is in “final negotiations” with a “major retailer” for physical distribution. I would have to assume that Wal-Mart and Best Buy wouldn’t be included. Prince doesn’t fit into the typical Wal-Mart shopper like AC/DC and The Eagles do. It would get overlooked or even boycotted. It wouldn’t be a smart move. As for Best Buy, will seeing how well they promoted Chinese Democracy, Prince would be smart to stay far away from them. Without those stores, I don’t know where Prince could turn, but I’m sure he’s got something up his sleeves.

Secondly, Prince will offer the album digitally through an “interactive website”. Don’t really know what that means, but I’m sure that it’s going to sick.

While these methods aren’t revolutionary, as of now, it just goes to show that labels are becoming more and more meaningless. Also, without all the restraints of a label, musicians are able to release more material in a less amount of time.